SHSelfHostIndex

Ory Kratos vs ZITADEL

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted identity & sso options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
OR Ory Kratos Headless identity and user management API server VS ZI ZITADEL Cloud-native identity infrastructure with multi-tenancy built in
FeatureOry KratosZITADEL
CategoryIdentity & SSOIdentity & SSO
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 13,815★ 14,671
First released20202020
ReplacesAuth0, Firebase AuthAuth0, Okta, Firebase Auth

Why pick each one

Choose Ory Kratos if…

  • Extremely flexible architecture
  • Excellent for custom frontends
Ory Kratos details

Choose ZITADEL if…

  • Strong multi-tenant model
  • Modern Go codebase
ZITADEL details

Frequently asked questions

Is Ory Kratos or ZITADEL better?

ZITADEL is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Ory Kratos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Ory Kratos and ZITADEL free and open-source?

Yes. Ory Kratos is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZITADEL under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Ory Kratos and ZITADEL with Docker?

Ory Kratos: yes. ZITADEL: yes.

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